Coach composition question

Thanks Steven. Yes, I now see that you did answer my question. I had read your reply, but I guess I didn't comprehend it!

PS: But now I see that what you experienced (AC coaches towards the rear of the CAPE-SBC train) and what is seen in the video (AC coaches towards the front of the CAPE-SBC train) don't agree! :-(( Oh, well...

Since this is a daily service it is serviced by 3 trains. The train leaving on the first leaves again on the fourth day. The train leaving on the second day, leaves again on the fifth day, and the train leaving on the third day leaves on the sixth day. So the one in youtube and the one on which Steven traveled could have been any one of the three.

back to square one....

No, Its Square two....

One would think that the coach ordering would be the same on all 3 trains, for the sake of convenience if not anything else.

For the sleeper coaches (at least in some trains) they try to keep the coach no. sequence the same for both onward and return journeys. They just have two numbers (one below the other)on each coach. e.g. on a 12-sleeper train you'd see S1/S12, S2/S11, ..., S6/S7, S7/S6, ....., S11/S2, S12/S1. You're supposed to read the upper or lower number according to whether it is an UP train or a DOWN one.

Yes, I've seen that a few times, very confusing.

Maybe the worst I've seen (and I've seen both of these many times) is S9 written on some paper and stuck to the side of the carriage, also S9 written in chalk, both times, there's little left by the time the train gets to the next station.

Yes, that's very very confusing. It requires us to remember whether a train is the UP train or the DOWN one.

It doesn't matter whether the order is like this :

<------ LOCO - SLR - UR - A1 - B1 - B2 - B3 - UR - S12 - S11 - S10 - S9 - S8 - S7 - S6 - S5 - S4 - S3 - S2 - S1 - UR - SLR

Or this :

SLR - UR - A1 - B1 - B2 - B3 - UR - S12 - S11 - S10 - S9 - S8 - S7 - S6 - S5 - S4 - S3 - S2 - S1 - UR - SLR - LOCO ----->


It is OK - as long as they have the info displayed at the station. So, even if the train is going to stop for only a minute or two, we can still handle it by being at/around the right spot on the platform.

Actually it's not that bad, once you get used to it. There is an identifier board stuck near the top edge of each coach which already has this information in a format similar to this:

A ---> B 1233

A <--- B 1234

You just read the top coach number for the top direction, and the bottom number for the bottom.

Coaches having dual nos [for up and down] is an old practice.Now a days coaches are not detached anywhere except at the starting point[that too rarely]since almost all trains are vestibule trains.For that reason coaches are numbered in reverse order at the return journey.Be it Rajdhani or any other train,numbers are in reverse order.At some end points they have round track [e.g.Matheran,Neral, Kolhapur] where train is reversed otherwise only engine is detached and coaches are kept in reverse order.
Now a days almost all the important platforms have coach indicators where coach nos are displayed.[Train no/coach no etc]Earlier platforms had fixed tin-plates on which up and down coach positions were displayed, but most of those have been replaced by electorinc indicators.For "aam aadmi" it makes no diference whether S1 is fifth from the engine or tenth,so long he/she gets confirmed reservation.What is going to change if coach position changes?